Apple’s catalogue of movies on iTunes gets a new addition this week, Purple Violets by director Edward Burns. What makes this two-hour film special, however, is that it’s being released to the online media store without first courting audiences in a cinema, or on DVD or TV. The exclusive premiere - available to download for $14.99 - stars Selma Blair and Debra Messing, and is the latest of Burns’ films to see initial release in non-mainstream format.
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Considering the lyrical waxing over the iPod Touch’s CoverFlow music browsing system, I’m almost surprised there are people out there who’d like to change the way the PMP handles tracks. However, wherever there’s cool hardware, there’ll be people wanting to make it even cooler: hence Matt’s project to bring flick-style transport controls to the Touch via its onboard accelerometer.
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Rumor has it that Apple is prepping an upgrade for their iTunes software, version 7.5, which could be released as early as next week. The new version, according to AppleInsider, will consist of minor changes and fixes rather than significant feature introductions, but will hopefully ease the issues some users are having upgrading their iTunes music to iTunes Plus.
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While yesterday’s official confirmation from Apple that their DRM-free “iTunes Plus” tracks would be reduced in price - from $1.29 to the same $0.99 as regular songs - was positive news, our concern still lingered around upgrades of existing tracks owned. Since the introduction of the higher-quality, DRM-free Plus music, people who have bought standard tracks have been able to upgrade to the non-encrypted version (assuming it’s available) by simply paying the difference in price. As of writing, while Plus tracks are all showing up at the new, lower figure, upgrading your existing library will still require payment.
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Back when Steve Jobs said he disliked DRM as much as the rest of us, even the most reasonable and believing people found themselves coughing pointedly behind their hands. The availability of iTunes Plus tracks on the Apple music download service went a little way to proving his point, although the fact that they came in at $1.29 rather than the typical $0.99 of DRM-encrypted songs was still a dissuading factor. Now Apple have officially reducedthe cost of all iTunes Plus tracks to the same $0.99 as encrypted songs cost.
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While iPhone owners agonise over the choice between third-party functionality or Apple’s latest firmware update (and those with unlocked iPhones hopefully sit on their hands and ignore it, lest their handsets get re-locked and refuse to recognise the original AT&T SIM), rumours are afoot that the 152.3mb download may just have some benefits to iPod Touch owners too.
“My screen is now perfect. Videos and pics don’t have the negative issue anymore, and overall, the screen looks crisper. I’m not sure if I’m just imagining it, but bright colors look clearer and brighter” MacRumours Forum member ‘thesdx’
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One of the most frustrating things in the world is having a new toy and being unable to play with it; that’s the situation a growing number of users are finding themselves in, with their spanking new iPod Touch units refusing to play ball with their Macs and PCs. In fact, there seem to be a couple of distinct groups of people having problems.
Impress is reporting that Japanese buyers are unable to unlock their PMPs using Japanese language versions of Windows, and instead have been forming queues outside Apple stores to use the demo Macs to rescue their Touch from a perpetual “Connect to PC” prompt. Engadget Japan tells us that Apple has an update coming sometime next week which should fix it, but up until then you may as well put it back in the box.
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